Evaluation of the Creative Experience of Artistic Achievement - Essay Example

Evaluation of the Creative Experience of Artistic Achievement Creating a piece of artwork takes a great number of skills. The work takes the skills of the technique so that the application of the materials express the vision of the artist. It takes the skill to interpret the world into a captured moment, the language of the event captured by the artwork a revelation of something relevant. It takes the patience to work with both of those skills until the piece expresses something, acting as a conduit between the artist and the viewer. Being an artist also takes the skill to evaluate one’s self in relationship to the creative moment, to be able to channel that something from deep inside into the piece so that the work is something more than just ‘pretty’. In deciding to be an artist, the pathway towards artistic achievement is far beyond the imaginings of the experience, even for the artist. Technique evolves through the experience of working with a medium. One learns through the educational venue, through working with materials, and through exploring with the raw substances that will go into creating the piece of work. One of the surprises in working with the materials that I have chosen for my body of work is that it takes so much longer to assemble a work than I had ever imagined. Despite that fact that it took someone like Seurat two years to paint Grande Jatte, I was surprised at how long different types of detailed work took to complete (Elkins74). One of the mediums that I used was to assemble work using a colour palette developed from magazine clippings and weaving. The piece that I created, a scene of one boy carrying another on his back, took me a long length of time because of the limits on the colour palette and because of the intricacy of the work. While I expected that the intricacy of the work would take a great deal of time, it was unexpected that it would take so long to sort through the colour availability in order to successfully construct the image. In order to work on the piece, I had to construct a frame of mind in which deep concentration and meticulous, detailed work could be achieved from the placement of the magazine shreds. As well, it took a great deal of time to work adapt two paintings into one piece of work. The intention is to awaken the spirit of the integration of the Caribbean and British cultures through putting together imagery of The London Bridge in England and the Kissing Bridge in the Caribbean. The symbolism of the bridge between cultures is made literal by the integration of the images of two bridges from differing culture in order to create a symbolic union. The Kissing Bridge in the Caribbean is a common sight where weddings are held, thus it extends the interpretive platform that I labeled “Culture Marriage”, in order to express the interlaced iconic imagery that were used to connect both cultures. My work is highly textural, the use of fabrics and weaving techniques creating a visual complexity that comes together to support the language that I have created through the discourse within my work. Because I have chosen to work with textiles, I was invited to integrate my work into an event of a free-range exhibition of the work of fashion students at our university. I used this event as a preliminary experiment towards the eventuality of my own exhibition. I found that people were attracted to my work because of the textural elements that were involved in creating the work. Because of the tactile element, some people wanted to reach out to the work and touch it to experience it from more than just the sense of sight. This type of “sensory art experience” allows for the viewer to experience the art on many levels, although it is more preferable if viewers do not disturb the pieces (Hinz 63). The type of communication that I intend with the work is partially through the textural elements, conveying the multiple layers of culture and the way in which culture has a variety of dimensions. This surprising revelation, that people actually would reach towards the work, suggests that this dimension of language as expressed through my artwork, has been achieved. One of the more important goals that I have worked towards in creating my artwork was in creating elements of a language within my work. Thematically, I have endeavored to speak through the lens of culture, my Caribbean home infused into the visual language that I have created. Through use of specific colour palettes, the nature of the imagery as it is speaking towards specific communications, as well as giving over an interactive language as the viewer injects their own interpretations, I have worked towards developing a style that is uniquely my own. While my early works reflect a Cubist style of work, the work has begun to emerge in a style that I believe is unique, thus showing a growth that I had hoped to achieve. Within the nature of creating work that is defined by a style that I have discovered from within my own artwork, I have created what I hope is an authentic language in which to express myself. Boelen states that “Authentic language is an art in the aesthetic rather than in the technical sense of the term. Words are put at the service of the primordial inspiration of the spirit”(n.p.). Within this interpretation, I believe that I have found a pathway to a unique set of terms in which I create. In the activity of creation, I have discovered that my art is beginning to reflect the goals that I had hoped to achieve. In creating a story for my work, I have developed deeper meanings that can be seen within the imagery and the nature of the construction of that imagery. The nature of art can “have a strong impact…hav(ing) the capability of informing as eloquently as any prose” (Libby 121). Barasch discusses the way in which art has a language, that it is within the communication that is intended by the art that the language is created. A statue in the middle of a square will have a communication that it intends, perhaps suggesting the foundational strength upon which a city was built. The nature of the expressions that the artist makes creates the language of the art (5). It is my hope that I have achieved this goal and have approached my viewers in such a way as to engage them in a conversation based upon the language that I have created in which to discuss the cultures that I am representing. The nature of my experiences as an artist in creating my most current body of work has been to have begun to see the work for its value through its time, language and interpretive capacities. The nature of the work I have done is textural as well as visual, thus eliciting the viewer to wish to experience it on more than just one level of sensory perception. The techniques have been laborious and have been rewarding because of what I have achieved through those efforts. I believe I have developed a unique style and artistic language in which to engage viewers of my work. In evaluating the experiences that I have had in creating work for this current collection, I have discovered depths of artistic expression that I have never before realized that I could attain. Through the use of multimedia materials and in engaging the duality of the culture in which I live, the work has begun to emerge through my own unique visual language. References Barasch, Moshe. The Language of Art: Studies in Interpretation. New York: New York Univ. Press, 1997. Print. Boelen, Bernard J. M. Personal Maturity: The Existential Dimension. New York: Seabury press, 1978. Print. Elkins, James. Why Art Cannot Be Taught: A Handbook for Art Students. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2001. Print. Hinz, Lisa D. Expressive Therapies Continuum. A Framework for Using Art in Therapy. Milton Park, Abington: Taylor and Francis Group, 2009. Print. Libby, Wendy M. L. Using Stories to Make Art: Creative Activities Using Children's Literature. Clifton Park, NY: Delmar Learning, 2003. Print. . Read More